Search

Search results

1. Three tricky points for equalization abolitionists

   For as long as equalization has existed (since 1957), Quebec has always received the largest payment. ...

2. Changing equalization won’t be easy—partly for good reason

   You hear a lot these days about reforming equalization. If Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party wins the next Alberta election, you’ll likely hear more. As it is, Saskatchewan has already put a reform proposal on the table: keep ...

3. Canadian household debt concerns are overblown

   Once again, alarms are sounding about the level of household debt in Canada. A recent Financial Post story highlighted reports by both Equifax Canada and the Swiss-based Bank of International Settlements (BIS) about the growing household ...

4. Risky business—the clean tech gamble

   Governments across Canada are betting big (carbon tax) money on clean tech. Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta have all directed funds from carbon pricing into ventures promoting “clean tech” (a.k.a. technology that provides ...

5. Narrative about Canada’s post-recession economic superiority overlooks provincial laggards east of Manitoba

   A popular narrative holds that Canada weathered the global financial crisis and recession relatively well, outperforming many advanced countries economically since 2009. This is true for the country as whole particularly when Canada is ...

6. Government budgets are like volcanoes: It’s what underneath that counts

   Appeared in the Calgary Herald Imagine you’re near what you thought was a dormant volcano but it suddenly erupts. Assuming you escape, you might later reflect that there was nothing “sudden” about it. The eruption resulted from earlier events deep within ...

7. Who Could Object to a Carbon Tax?

   Appeared in The Province, Huffington Post, and Okanagan Saturday, Dec 5, 2014 Carbon taxes are back on centre stage in Canada, after a new “bipartisan” Ecofiscal Commission came out in favour of the idea. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is also talking ...

8. Ontario's beer cartel paints Alberta liquor privatization as the bogeyman

   Appeared in the Calgary Herald It’s been two decades since the Alberta government exited the business of selling beer, wine and spirits to consumers. The privatization of all government liquor stores (completed in 1994) led to a dramatic expansion in the ...

9. Ontario, the Diffident Enabler, Needs to Change

   Appeared in the Toronto Star and Winnipeg Free Press For many years, Ontario has been the quiet enabler for the vast system of subsidies the federal government provides to Atlantic Canada, Quebec and Manitoba. With rare exceptions, it has stood by as ...